Personal computers traditionally store files locally on a medium directly accessed by the computer generating or editing the files. As network access has become more widespread, it has become feasible to store files on a remote network. Storing files on a remote network, also referred to as cloud storage, allows a user to access the files using any device that can access the network. Such cloud storage systems reduce the user's need for local storage capacity and assure the user that, regardless of which device is accessing a file, an up-to-date copy of the file is being accessed.
Existing cloud storage systems limit the metadata associated with the files they store. Such systems may record information corresponding to different metadata categories, such as a name of the file, a creation date of the file, the last time the contents of the file were modified, or other suitable information that is typically limited to a set of predetermined categories of metadata. Applications interacting with the files stored in existing cloud storage systems are therefore restricted to either using the predetermined metadata categories or relying on a second storage system to keep track of metadata that the cloud storage system does not store.